week 13 30th-6th May

I was very glad I attended my gymnastics class this week as it was very important as we found out our practical exam dates and what we had to complete for this practical. The practical will be held on the 28^th May which gives us plenty of time to work on it. For this exam I have to choreograph a floor routine and teach a student this choreography. This routine has to be at the most one minute and thirty seconds and a floor plan should be handed to the lecturer before the routine begins. Warm up should be given and a question and answering session with lecturer after the routine is complete. Therefore the complete floor routine section should last no more than five minutes. The second half is to choreograph an apparatus routine which can be on the beam, horse, bars or a choice of rhythmic gymnastics equipment, this has to last 60-90 seconds. Warm up should be included and another question and answering session, therefore this half should also be five minutes long. This practical will only last ten minutes so in my opinion I don’t think it will be that difficult. I have experience in choreography because of dancing so I hope my experience will help and guide me through it smoothly.  This is very different to my gymnastics class last year in Stranmillis as we didn’t have to do a practical exam, however I like this idea as it gives us students and future P.E teachers a chance to teach others and get the experience of being at the other side of a practical session.

I had another psychology class today and we learnt about the effects of drug abuse in sport. I have covered this topic many of times in GCSE P.E, A level P.E and in Stranmillis, however I have never learnt in depth the psychological effects drugs have on an athlete.  We learnt the social factors and how peer pressure has a mighty effect on young people, also the demand to look good for example those with a muscular build taking steroids. Win at all costs significant to athletes as pressure is put on them by fans, coaches and family to win, therefore leading to some athletes being drawn to using drugs to up their game. I really enjoyed this class as it was something that I knew about but I learnt even more about the psychological side not just the physiological.

After having a complete day in university Niamh, Amy and I decided to go out for dinner again to our favourite place meet. We decided to do this as there was another fireworks display in Valetta, this time it was a competition. We were to meet the rest of our friends there however we couldn’t seem to find them anywhere. All three of us therefore stuck together and watched the event, and I didn’t think it was possible but these fireworks were even more spectacular than those on Friday. Niamh and Amy didn’t see the fireworks on the Friday therefore they were even more amazed than I was. Surprise, surprise the winners of the competition were Malta, with Canada in second place. I am pleased that I didn’t miss this as I would say it was a once in a life time opportunity, I am saying this as the friends we were to meet up with turned up late and missed the entire show unlucky for them.

Tuesday was a big day for the Dutch as it was Queens’s day and they would celebrate it to the equivalent of our St. Patricks day. Therefore most of the dutch in our residence wanted us to experience this and organised a party at the residence pool bar. We couldn’t say no as they celebrated St. Patrick’s Day with us. This was a great night and it was really great experience to celebrate a different culture.

On the Thursday I have my management class at 12pm and the lecturer always turns up on time, however we were waiting 45 minutes and there was still no sign of him. We then realised the class was only to start at 1.00pm, well weren’t we silly not looking at the notice board! This class was therefore a short one and we learnt all about how to set up a tournament which was very usefull to learn about as on the 20^th may we were to attend a tournament that was to be organised by our class. I have never done this before, so you could tell I was very excited to experience something new, and in a different country.

On the Saturday It was time for another hike organised once again by the AEGEE team.  On this hike we arrived at the Temples of Ħaġar Qim & Mnajdra  which is the site of the oldest free standing structures, this was a very interesting site to visit and we got an up close view at the free standing temple remains. After this we walked to Wied iż- Żurrieq then to the Blue Grotto and watched the rocky scene of the steep Babu Valley. Blue Grotto is a number of sea caverns on the southern coast of Malta and was the most beautiful site I have visited in Malta so far. We got on a ting tour boat which took us all round the caves, the sites were out of this world, the water was completely clear and blue you could see to the bottom of the water. The location of the cave combined with the sunlight lead to the water mirroring showing numerous shades of blue. Several caverns mirror the brilliant phosphorescent colours of the underwater flora; other caverns show a deep dark shade of blue. I also found out it was used for a scene of the 2004 film Troy, starring Brad Pitt. I would definitely advise tourists to visit this site, as I think it’s one amazing memory I will remember from Malta.